Spurs go international again, add sharpshooter Belinelli

Chicago Bulls guard Marco Belinelli (8), of Italy, looks for an open teammate past Miami Heat forward LeBron James (6) during the first half of Game 2 of their NBA basketball playoff series in the Eastern Conference semifinals, Wednesday, May 8, 2013, in Miami.

Chicago Bulls guard Marco Belinelli (8), of Italy, looks for an...

Since the bitter end of an NBA Finals that ended one victory shy of a fifth championship, the Spurs' front-office decision-makers made no bones about their desire to bring back the core of the team's free-agent crop.

On Thursday, the Spurs made their first outside hire of the offseason.

Marco Belinelli, a 27-year-old former Italian League star who has shown promise in six NBA seasons spent with four teams, has agreed to a two-year deal worth nearly $6 million to join the Spurs, league sources said.

Belinelli cannot officially sign his deal until July 10, per NBA rule.

The Spurs apparently moved fast to line up Belinelli, a 6-foot-5 shooting guard, as other teams began circling reserve guard Gary Neal, a restricted free agent.

Neal, another expatriate of the Italian Leagues, has been garnering offers from other teams the Spurs might be disinclined to match, according to an ESPN.com report. He has not yet signed an offer sheet with another team.

If Neal is indeed headed out of town after three seasons with the Spurs, the team appears to have already identified his replacement in Belinelli, a native of Bologna, Italy.

A former first-round draft pick of Golden State in 2007, Belinelli spent last season with Chicago, where he averaged 9.6 points and shot 35.7 percent from 3-point range. He started 27 games for the injury-ravaged Bulls but was best utilized as a member of coach Tom Thibodeau's bench unit.

Belinelli, who also had stints in New Orleans and Toronto, became expendable in Chicago when the Bulls agreed to terms with free agent Mike Dunleavy earlier this week.

Like Manu Ginobili before him, Belinelli cut his teeth in Italy, where he was a teenage star before arriving stateside in 2007.

“I don't know if a lot of people understand how big he was in Italy,” Bulls guard Nate Robinson told the Chicago Sun-Times in March.

News of Belinelli's verbal agreement comes a day after the Spurs reached a new deal with the 36-year-old Ginobili, who will re-sign at two years and $14 million. That, in turn, came a day after center Tiago Splitter agreed to return on a four-year deal worth $36 million.

It could be that Belinelli winds up being the most prominent addition of the Spurs' offseason.

There are scenarios, however, in which they still could remain active in the free-agent market, depending upon the particular salary cap tool used to sign Belinelli.

Were the Spurs to let Neal and free-agent forward DeJuan Blair go, plus exercise their amnesty option on the $3.945 owed forward Matt Bonner, it is possible — in theory at least — for the team to free more than $5 million in cap room with which to continue the pursuit of free agents.

Multiple reports have linked the Spurs to Andrei Kirilenko, a 32-year-old small forward who opted out of $10.2 million in Minnesota in search of a lengthier deal.

A report on Hoopsworld.com on Thursday indicated the Spurs had also been in contact with Anthony Morrow, a sharp-shooting guard who split last season between Atlanta and Dallas and who has piqued their interest in the past.